Beyond the Knock Knock Door (6 page)

‘I can't walk into a town looking like this! You might think it's funny that I'm the Incredible Bearded Lady, but I don't!'

‘Lucky you didn't draw any curls on your chest, eh?'

Samantha filled Luke's face with hers. ‘You listen to me, Luke Francis Bowman. I'd keep that wind tunnel you call a mouth closed from now on. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?' He gulped. ‘Good! Now stay that way and we might actually like each other for the first time in our lives!'

Her leather boots squeaked across the clean, white sand as she marched from the beach to the shade of a long, rolling cliff face. She passed Michael, who stood dumbstruck, gaping at the impossible. Before him, as if magnetically repelled from the planet itself, hundreds of limestone islands sailed
above
the ocean and rode through the sky. Some were small and fast; others gigantic and sluggish. Tropical gardens thrived on
their topsides and waterfalls sprayed over their edges. Occasionally, an avalanche of boulders tumbled down and pounded the sea like cannonballs. Others crunched into the graveyard of shipwrecks, splintering masts and smashing wooden carcasses, which groaned with each surge of the waves.

They weren't the only marvels. Amazingly, there were the fish – great schools flying among the floating isles. They shimmered, twisted and looped in perfect unison, curving dangerously close to the crags before sprinting away across the coral cays. No wonder the triplets hadn't seen any birds in the rainforest. They didn't seem to exist. Further along, Luke spotted an enormous, orange and very dead stone crab. It was the size of a double garage. He walked inside and looked at the carapace, which had been crushed open and the flesh eaten.

Michael's armour warmed in the mid-morning sun, and the wind tugged his cloak as he sat and watched the islands meander. A sense of peace overcame him as he wriggled his toes under the hot sand. Embarrassingly, this was his first visit to a beach. He'd seen them on television but had never tasted a salt breeze or heard the foamy fizz of real waves. His dad was a life-long farmer and hated leaving the land. He preferred rivers, hills, kingfishers and dust on his dogs to caravans, seagulls, rubbish bins and slowly crackling skin. ‘Too many tourists,' he'd always say.

‘Where is everybody?' Samantha demanded, scouting for a boat, footprints in the sand or even a
washed-up shopping bag. ‘The monster can't have eaten them all.'

Then, barely above the wind, they heard music. They stopped and turned towards the furthest cliff top. ‘Is that a flute?' Luke asked.

‘Who's playing it?'

‘Scanning …'

His visor zeroed in on a thin teenager sitting cross-legged on a high, rocky arch and playing a pipe made of coral. He was fifteen – possibly sixteen – and human. He had loose blue hair, a sharp face, tanned skin, boyish stubble and sky-coloured eyes. Two sapphires were set into each cheekbone, and a set of gold chains looped from his left ear – probably to disguise that nasty burn scar along his neck. His old-fashioned clothes resembled those of a swashbuckler or even a musketeer. A white lace collar flowered over a sleeveless green doublet, which was trimmed and buttoned with gold. Red stripes ran along the arms of his white shirt, and his red puffy pants were tucked into brown boots folded at the top.

Michael pulled on his own boots and metal leggings, and dragged Luke away, whose visor not only recorded the piper's song but listed each note as well. The limestone arch was unreachable directly from the shore.

‘You go talk to him,' she whispered. ‘I can't do it looking like this.'

‘Pretend you're a boy,' Luke said. ‘No one will know.'

‘I'll know!'

‘Then stay here. Mikey and I aren't afraid, are we?'

They retreated back up the cliff then approached the piper from behind. Startled by the clink of armour, the teenage boy dropped his coral instrument and stretched out his left palm. A sword hidden in the scrub flew into his hand. In a flash, its tip poked Michael's throat.

Samantha screamed for Luke to act as she ran along the cliff and drew her cutlass. Both were too slow. The teenager was ready to disarm Michael until he noticed the golden armour and its four bears. Immediately, he stabbed his swashbuckler's sword into the ground and knelt in submission.

The triplets blinked in disbelief.

Head down, the teenager apologised frantically – or that's what they thought he was saying. He spoke a language none had heard before.

‘Do you speak English?' Michael asked, rubbing his throat. ‘
En-glish?
'

The teenager paused, shook his head then continued gibbering. He saw the cobra hissing on Samantha's neck and averted his gaze.

‘He sounds Spanish,' Luke said.

‘I thought it was Italian,' Michael answered.

‘I don't care if it's two dogs barking,' she said. ‘He just tried to kill you!'

‘We scared him, that's all. He was defending himself.'

‘Who can blame him?' Luke said. ‘What with the monster and all. Did you see how that sword flew
through the air? It just jumped into his hand!'

She lowered her own cutlass and walked round the piper, checking if he had any more weapons. The teenager slyly pretended to scratch his shoulder, only to flip over a patch of striped red cloth to hide the emblem of a bounding white rabbit.

‘So are they your real clothes? Or did Mr Goode Deed send you to this place too?'

‘Sam,' Michael said.

‘Or,' she raised her sword again, ‘maybe you're one-and-the-same, wearing another disguise.'

‘Sam!'

The breakthrough in communication came when the piper respectfully offered them each a pendant. It was a simple piece of jewellery – a spotted slipper snail shell dangling from a twisted leather cord. A gentle rattle revealed something small inside. Watching him tie one around his neck, the triplets warily followed his lead then instantly heard his voice translated into English.

‘– understand each other. I hope I haven't offended you or your companions with my sword arm, my liege. My life is yours if I have done so.'

The piper knelt again but Michael lifted him to his feet. The strange boy kept his eyes lowered with respect, although they repeatedly wandered to the cobra tattoo.

‘Er, I'm Michael. This is Luke and Samant –'

‘Ahem,' she coughed.

‘Sorry, Sam. She's –'

‘
Ahem
.'

‘
He's
also travelling with us.'

Luke leant forward and grinned. ‘Don't worry about
him
. He's always moody because' – an elbow sharply jabbed into his ribs – ‘his voice hasn't broken yet.'

‘No, but I know a few bones that will be,' she growled.

‘What's your name?' Michael asked.

‘Aurelio, my liege.'

‘And you're a musician, Aurelio?'

‘Yes, my liege, but mostly a humble guide for lost travellers.'

‘Why do you keep calling him that?' Luke asked. ‘Y'know, “my liege”.'

‘Why, because he is the Gold Knight – the bravest warrior in all the Seven Worlds of Wonder. He single-handedly froze the Giant of the Lost Lake, rescued the children of the Wolflands, caught the Knave of Knaves and ended the Thousand Year War with a poem. No man matches his valour and strength – not even the mighty Red Samurai. He is our most loved champion from the Hall of Heroes.'

‘The Hall of what?'

‘Hall of Heroes – the home of all the best warriors. That is where you've journeyed from today, is it not, my liege?'

‘No. We're –'

Whiskers scratched his helmet. ‘Play along with it,' his sister breathed.

‘We're, er – how can I put it –'

‘– on our way home,' she finished for him. ‘But we first need to find the nearest city … to do hero stuff.'

‘That would be Pacifico, sir. The great eastern capital of peacemakers.'

‘And …'

Aurelio blinked.

She sighed. ‘You told us you're a guide for lost travellers. Go on then. Take us there.'

‘Yes, sir. It would be,' he glanced at the cobra yet again, ‘an honour.'

He grabbed his coral pipe and scabbard, and walked to the tip of the limestone arch, where he played a low, soft song.

Samantha rolled her eyes. They needed help, not music. ‘Hey, pied piper –'

Michael grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. ‘Stop it.'

‘Stop what?'

‘Bullying him.'

‘Am not. I'm just cutting out being polite.'

‘You don't have to scare him, okay?'

‘Who are you now? Dad?'

His jaw tightened. ‘Listen, if we're going to get back home, we need friends. You scaring people away isn't helping.'

She bowed and dipped her hat. ‘Yes,
my liege.
'

Luke's radar beeped. A pair of green signals appeared on his visor. ‘Wow!'

Two flying creatures the size of a bus soared along the cliffs until they levelled with the archway. ‘Stand
back,' Aurelio said, resuming his piping. They looked like whales but with cream bellies, dark grey backs, dozens of spots and stripes in a chequerboard pattern, and most noticeably – shark fins!

‘
Sharks
?' she shouted, seeing bite marks chewed into their sides.

‘Whale sharks,' Michael corrected, removing a gauntlet to gingerly pat the closest one. Its skin was rubbery but dry. ‘Don't worry. They don't eat people.'

‘In our world maybe.'

‘In our world they don't fly,' Luke said.

‘You're safe, my friends,' Aurelio assured them, pulling his blue hair into a ponytail. ‘This is Ningaloo, and that old man there is Exmouth. They'll take us to Pacifico.'

‘I'm not getting on one of those!' Samantha said, her cobra's hood flaring.

‘Why not?' Luke asked, also patting a whale shark. They weren't scary at all.

‘Do you see any seats or saddles?'

‘No need to fear,' Aurelio said, mounting Exmouth in front of the first dorsal fin. ‘No one's ever fallen off. If you hold their sides like this and don't panic, they'll take care of you.'

‘I'm not risking my life on a fish! Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get back over here.'

‘Stop being a cry-baby and get on,' Luke said. ‘See. Mikey's not scared.'

She seized Michael's hand before he joined Luke on Ningaloo. ‘Don't you dare. We're all staying put.'

‘And do what? Wait to be attacked again by whatever's in those mountains?'

The mention of the monster silenced them. Even Aurelio cast worried looks.

‘Why can't he just fly us back up to that waterfall?'

‘Begging your pardon, sir, but few fish dare fly over the Broken Isles because of those Weeping Mountains.'

‘The Broken Isles?' Michael asked, as Samantha let go of his hand. ‘That's the name of this place?'

‘Yes, my liege. Named after the floating islands that fill the skies. They crush any ship that dares –'

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,' she said. ‘Save it for the travel brochures. If this is the only way out of here, then help me on this fish taxi.'

‘Taxi, sir?'

‘A whale shark with wheels,' she answered, saddling the rubbery skin.

‘How do they know where to go?' Luke asked.

Aurelio pointed to ten striped fish wriggling against the whale sharks' bellies. ‘Pilot fish,' he said.

He blew a high-pitched note and suddenly they all lurched from the archway. The triplets grabbed hold of their mounts as they rose higher from the cliff and left the beach far below. Luke jokingly asked when the flight attendants would be serving hot meals, while Samantha squeezed her eyes shut. Michael had a weird sensation of being tugged by the shoulders towards the floating islands. Then
toot!
They stopped. Hovering, they felt the breeze against their faces as Aurelio fingered new notes. Then, without warning, they hurtled hearts and guts straight towards the water!

‘AAARRRGGGHHH!'

The whale sharks skimmed the waves before splitting – Exmouth soaring skywards while Ningaloo curved low and wide. They soared past the floating islands, which were coated with Viking shields, cogs, weapons and engine parts. There were even three skeletons pinned by their prison shackles. Faster and faster the whale sharks roller-coasted on the trade winds, the pilot fish setting the pace. Escaping the islands, Ningaloo broke through the clouds and rejoined Exmouth, Aurelio and Samantha, who looked like she needed a sick bag. Quick.

Still trying to swallow his stomach, Michael yelled, ‘WAHOO!' as they charged east above coral cays, sandbars and shipwrecks. They passed schools of flying barracuda, sweetlips, blue tangs, pink jellyfish floating like balloons, porpoises, flapping turtles and humpbacks, and crossed over a giant, sucking whirlpool. Soon, the brothers' fears eased, and they relaxed in their seats to enjoy every magnificent sight.

‘How'd you make your sword fly back there?' Luke shouted three times before Aurelio heard.

The piper revealed a metal broach strapped to his palm. Veins of red light glowed as one of Luke's bottomless pouches flipped open and a knife and fork leapt across to the teenager's hand. ‘It's the strongest magnetic ore in the universe, friend. It can attract or repel all types of metal. It has several names, but here we call it “widow rock” because it has killed many a good sailor.'

‘By something so small?'

Aurelio shook his head. ‘This is but a pebble. Most of it is found behind us in those floating islands. That's why we always keep a safe distance.'

Michael looked puzzled, as Samantha's hat flew off.

‘With respect, my liege, not even you are strong enough to fight off five thousand tonnes of rock.'

Aurelio nodded at the gold armour and Michael gulped. He pictured himself being pulled off the back of the whale shark and slamming into a magnetic island, stuck forever, just like those skeletons.